Hubble Panoramic View of Orion Nebula Reveals Thousands of Stars

January 11, 2006: In one of the most detailed astronomical images ever produced,
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an unprecedented look
at the Orion Nebula. This turbulent star formation region is
one of astronomy's mostWATCH: HubbleMinute VideoHubble Minute: Hubble Snaps the Clearest View of the Orion NebulaREAD: Junior version of this articleLearn about this story in the Star Witness, a science newspaper available on our sister site, Amazing Space. dramatic and photogenic celestial
objects. More than 3,000 stars of various sizes appear in this
image. Some of them have never been seen in visible light.
These stars reside in a dramatic dust-and-gas landscape of
plateaus, mountains, and valleys that are reminiscent of the
Grand Canyon. The Orion Nebula is a picture book of star
formation, from the massive, young stars that are shaping the
nebula to the pillars of dense gas that may be the homes of
budding stars.